Life's a Beach

Last week my friend Natalie had a great idea to take the kiddos to Lake Havasu. They are moving to Las Vegas this week and so we were cramming in the fun things to do. We went to this great family-friendly park where the kids were able to roam free. The temperature outside was about 80 degrees, a good 15-20 degrees warmer than Kingman, and the water was freezing. The kids didn't seem to mind at all though! Gracey was so excited to be at a beach. They even found hand fulls of little seashells!

I am not sure why we haven't spent more time in Lake Havasu. Growing up, we went nearly every summer to visit my aunt and uncle and play in the lake. We have now lived in Kingman for 2 years and sadly, this was the first time I have been to Havasu since. We will definitely be going again soon!

Spring Break

A couple of weeks ago was Spring Break for Gracey. We didn't have big plans to do anything for it but a couple of days before it began, I text my sister in law and said "can we come hang out next week?" Luckily, it was her son's Spring Break as well! Perfect timing. So me and the ladies drove down to Phoenix to spend 4 full days in the sun!

The weather was absolutely perfect! And when I say perfect, I MEAN perfect! One morning I went on an outside run for the first time since last October. It totally trumped the enjoyment of the treadmill! I could smell every blossom and flower that was growing and I could feel the sun on my back, but it wasn't super hot!

Perfect, I tell you.

And the kids, they played outside for HOURS every day with each other! They were in heaven. They pushed each other on the swings, they had picnics, threw frisbees, and they blew (or spilled, however you want to look at it) bubbles!


One day, the kids wanted a bit of a scene change, so we loaded up and spent nearly 3 hours playing at the park. We had to go home 2 times for potty breaks, but the kids weren't finished....and neither was I! They loved playing in the sand and as you can see, my totally white legs rocked the shorts! If you think I couldn't care less, you would be right!


The kids also had a lot of fun with food. One night, they got to decorate their own pizza. Then for dessert, we went and got some frozen yogurt!


Thank you Whipple Family, for letting us hang for a while!

Peyton (2), Emily (3), Gracey (5), Connor (9 mths), Blaise (5)

Doing Homework

On most afternoons, the girls and I will spend some time doing "homework." Gracey usually has a worksheet to do from preschool or will work from one of the workbooks that Corky and I have bought her. She calls it her homework, so naturally that is what Emily calls it too. Whether it is coloring, drawing, or tracing.

In just the last month, Emily's motor skills and attention span has improved so much. I bought this little dry erase book for Gracey when she was 3. It has all the letters and numbers in it to trace, with lots of repetition. Gracey has always loved to draw letters and numbers and picked up on them real quickly, but would often speed through them. Not really caring to repeat things over and over again. We learned to get creative. Emily though is a little more subdued, not in a good or bad way, and takes her time and really focuses on getting it just right. It is fun to see the differences between my beautiful and talented little ladies.

Visitors (Bailey and Skyler)

In the last month we have had so many visitors that we have felt spoiled! My mom came down about a month ago, (no pictures, doh!), Dallas and Jess 2 weeks later, then Bailey and Skyler just 2 weeks after that! It has been so much fun!

The weekend with Bailey and Skyler was full of fun stuff!

Lots of golf,
lots of good food,
(including those Asian Lettuce wraps)
comparing "flabby knees",
jumping on the trampoline,
getting pedicures,
watching the new movie "Alice in Wonderland",
making funny faces,
and just hanging out!!!





Come back soon! We love you!

Visitors (Dallas, Jess, and Baby Drake)

A few weeks ago my little brother and his wife, Jessica, and their son (my boyfriend) came to visit us for a long weekend. The weather was pretty cold and gloomy most of the time, much to Corky and Dallas's dismay since they wanted to go golfing, but we had a nice time just hanging out at the house. It wasn't until I put the pictures onto my computer that I saw that Gracey and Emily, hijacked my camera. This is what I found from the first night they were here.


When we have visitors, I try my best to feed them well. Really well. We ate some darn good food the whole weekend. We had Chicken Curry, Monkey Bread, Deli Sandwiches, cookies, and treats. But the real winner of the weekend was this, Asian Lettuce Wraps.. I used to make them for just Corky and myself a while back. We loved them then, but just hadn't made them in a while. Try them. You will absolutely not be disappointed.



(I used ground turkey, you could use pork, beef, or chicken. If you try them, be sure to go a little heavy on the Hoisin Sauce and add some crushed peanuts. Then use Mongolian Fire Oil mixed with soy sauce on the individual wraps! Holy Moly, it is good!)

After dinner, I hogged Drake. Who am I kidding? I hogged him all weekend. He didn't like it much....but I did it anyway.


While visiting, it was Jessica's birthday. The day before, Dallas asked if I could take him to the store to get her a birthday cake. Me, trying to be hospitable, just offered to make her a cake and save Dallas $20. I have close to 20 cake mixes. I asked her what her favorite was and it was white cake with white frosting. I said "No problem, you got it!" So the next day (Sunday) I go to make the cake and realize I don't have any of that kind. How dare I? It is Corky's favorite. So for her birthday, while she requested a white cake with white frosting, ended up getting a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I felt awesome! Sure, I could have done something from scratch...but remember, I have 20 boxes of cake mix!


This was pretty much the look that Drake gave me all weekend! Someday he will realize just how much he loves me!


And then came goodbyes! We sure had fun! My girls were in heaven playing with Drake all weekend, and I absolutely loved having Dallas and Jess come to visit!

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards are some of my most favorite parts of Christmas decorations. I love hearing from old friends and far-away family, and seeing their growing families. I took down my Christmas decorations within a week of Christmas being over with, but the Christmas cards usually stay for a while. In fact, I usually PLAN to take them down at about Valentine's Day. Corky always asks for them to come down sooner, like, when all the rest of the Christmas deco comes down. Here is my argument....

Some of those Christmas cards don't show up until right before Christmas. It isn't fair to those cards that didn't get to be enjoyed. I am just trying to even things out here.

So until Valentine's Day they stay.

Except this year, it was closer to St. Patrick's Day!

Oops, my bad.

On another note, but sort of the same. Every year I worry about what to do with all those Christmas cards. Some our handmade, some are handwritten and very personal, and the ALL the pictures are to die for. I have piles from year after year that I find difficult to just throw out.

This year, I found the solution!!! I was scanning all of Gracey's school work and art projects a few weeks ago to put into her little blog book (you know, so I don't have huge piles of papers) and a light bulb went off! "This is what I will do with Christmas cards!"

So today, I scanned in all of my Christmas cards that I received. I put them in my December 2009 photo folder, and they will be added to my blurb book.

I don't claim to be a genius but this is a great solution for me. I never want to be a pack-rat or a hoarder and this is going to make a difference for me. I will be able to enjoy my Christmas cards year after year in a very condensed manner!

Rest assured all you folks who sent us one, it was not a waste! They will be treasured always! And if you didn't send us one, shame on you, add us to your list!

Holy Snow!

We woke up this morning to thunder and lightning....and lots of wind! (The wind is completely normal)

Before long, it was hailing.

Not too long after that, it was snowing!

As we were driving to Gracey's preschool, Gracey said, "This is the BEST day ever!!"

When Emily and I arrived home, all Emily wanted to do was make footprints in the snow and eat it!


As of right now the snow has stopped and the sun is starting come out. I was really hoping that it would last long enough for Gracey to enjoy after school. Oh well, we always have the mountains nearby.

The Cut

Gracey was so excited all day! Her only citeria for this new cut was that it "still could go in a big pony-tail." (She is totally my kid)

Gracey had just enough to donate.

Emily's hair looks so much more healthy and even.

Both of them look great!


Our girls are growing up right before our eyes!

That long hair...

That long hair that you see is going to be cut off tomorrow! I am taking both of my girls into the salon to change things up a bit.


Gracey has been saying for months that she wanted her hair to be shorter like mine, but I literally just brush it off. After I get a hair trim, she asks when she can get hers cut. I admit, I have ignored her. I have LOVED her long hair. I curl it nearly everyday and enjoy how beautiful it is. The other day though, I was helping Gracey wash her hair while she showered. Her hair is so thick that she really can't wash it on her own anymore. At that very moment, I came to terms with this haircut that I was denying would ever come. I asked her, "Gracey, do you still want to cut your hair?"

She replied (not surprisingly) with, "Uh huh!"

This wasn't an "uh huh" that is comparable to an "oh, sure". This was an enthusiastic "Heck YES!"

So the appointment is set. While we are there, we will take a few inches off of Emily's hair too. She has this natural curl through out her hair (she gets from me) that is more of an annoyance than it is a blessing. If left to dry on its own, it looks frizzy and uncombed. I am thinking a little hair cut for her will help control some of that!

Needless to say, both girls are pretty excited. I am excited too. I have had long hair before. Really, really long hair. I know having shorter hair for Gracey will be great for the warmer weather, lots of outdoor playing, and lots of swimming.

This was taken this morning after the girls were all ready for their dance classes. Gracey wore her hair in a french braid yesterday.
That is where all of her wave comes from. (I will miss that, but we'll get by!)




All I am asking now is that there be no comments of "Don't do it!" or "You'll regret it!" Folks, she is 5 years old. It will grow back!

Dinner conversation with Gracey

Since I have this rare hour of quiet time, I want to write about last night's dinner conversation with Gracey. It was so funny that I grabbed a notebook and started writing things down while the girls and I were in the middle of eating. (Corky was out of town. He has worked in Kansas the past 10 days) Gracey asked what I was writing and I totally lied by saying "a grocery list!"

Anyway, for dinner we had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, steamed broccoli, and salad on the side. Gracey asked, "Why do they call it GIRL Cheese?" I told her that it is actually grilled cheese.

After a few seconds of silence she said, "But the cheese isn't grilled, the bread is!"

(she is so my kid, I always question reasoning that I think may be totally dumb!)

I then told her that it is a "Cheese Sandwich" that is grilled.

I think she got it.

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The next point of conversation really caught me off guard. Fresh off of watching the movie "Home Alone 2," Gracey says,

"Mom, Big Horse's Ass is a bad word......unless you are talking to robbers!"

Oh dear.

So I try and stifle my laugh and tell her that we shouldn't say it to anybody. And if you ever meet robbers, you should run away. Not call them bad names!

I was absolutely dying inside!!

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All the while these talks are going on between Gracey and me, between bites, Emily is doing the helicopter with her pigtails!

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My girls gave me so many reasons to laugh last night!

A rare hour

At this very moment, I am kid-free for 60 minutes! It doesn't seem like much time, and I am not jumping for joy over this (nor am I dying to have my kids home either right now), I am just making a note of it. Especially after such a busy week. A week where being kid-free was extremely rare. In fact, I had more kids than normal. I am not complaining about that either. I babysit 2 boys a few times a week and I have loved them. On top of those boys, I had other kids here too. In fact, there were 2 days between Monday and Thursday that I had 6 kids under the age of 5 in my house!

Crazy? You betcha! But when I can put my everything-must-be-clean-and-orderly mode aside for a few hours, it is actually fun. My kids love it because having more kids to play with is lots better than their boring, old mom!

A funny moment of the craziness happened yesterday. Even though I had 6 kids in my house, it was surprisingly quiet and peaceful. 2 out of the 6 were napping, while the other 4 were watching "Home Alone 2." I received an important phone call and the lady asked, "is it a good time? do you have a few minutes?"

I replied, "It is actually perfect timing"

I am not joking, about 30 seconds later, the baby I babysit woke up screaming, Gracey and Emily started fighting with each other, naturally, waking up the 2 year old. My life went from peaceful to chaotic in 30 seconds or less. I apologized to the lady on the phone and said we would have to talk again soon. After hanging up I looked at the phone log and it said I was on the phone for 46 seconds.

What can you do besides just laugh??

Meet the babies!

With the dollhouse that Gracey and Emily received for Christmas, came a little family. The family included two cute twins, a boy and a girl. The girls had a ton of fun playing with their gift, especially Emily. She would sit and play quietly for hours. One time, Corky went in to join her and that was the first time that he was technically introduced to the twins. Emily had named them, with obviously no prompting from anybody.

Introducing.....

Boobi and Goo!


Boobi is the boy and Goo is the girl! (that is even funnier to me!)

That had to have been one of the funniest things I had heard Emily say. I wish I had my camera when she told me. She told me so casually and quickly, like those were the most normal names she could have thought of it. By the time I actually did get the camera out to record, we had been laughing so hard about it that she became a little shy!



Funny how you can get used to a name. We all refer to them as "Boobi and Goo" and don't even crack a smile anymore. (Only in our heads) That is just their names!

"A horse is a horse, of course, of course!"

New Year's Day, my old brother invited me and the girls to come out and ride his horse. Gracey and Emily had been on a horse before when they visited their Grandma Jean in Snowflake, AZ. but that was almost 2 years ago. So they were long overdue to get back in the saddle! (get it?)





As usual, Gracey had no issues getting right on. In fact, she loved it.


Emily took advantage of the comfort Grandma Joyce gives!


As much of a cheerleader I was when my kids got on, I was surprisingly nervous when my brother asked me if I wanted a turn. I used to ride horses a lot when I was younger. My grandfather owned them as I was growing up and I was always very comfortable around them. It had been a really long time though and that is kind of a long fall to the ground if you get bucked off!

(Why these thoughts didn't go through my head when my own children were on the horse? I don't know.)

I did end up riding though and really enjoyed it.




The girls were so tired afterward! They could barely keep their eyes open on the way home. They perked up a little though after seeing me take a picture of them.



They are such cuties!

The Chefs

*December 31, 2009*

Gracey and Emily have no problem getting dirty and digging in to help cook anything. They are both such good helpers.



On another note, the apron that Gracey is wearing was given to me as a gift from my mom and dad for my 3rd birthday!! I love that my mom has kept it for so long!

Bounce House Galore!

We were planning on going to St. George for New Year's and so the girls and I were real excited to find out some friends were going to St. George and could give us a ride. Putting us there a day earlier than if we waited for Corky. It worked out perfectly because my sister had coupons to Jumpin' Jack's that were expiring, so that evening we took the kids there.

Gracey immediately had a great time. She is my child that has never had fear and is willing to try just about anything, especially when it comes to most any type of physical activity. Emily, on the other hand, is a little more cautious. It took a few times of riding down the big slides with somebody, before she was able to let loose. It wasn't long before she was doing it all on her own though!









One of my favorite pictures of the evening....


Gracey and Emily sliding down together, laughing the whole way!

And it wouldn't be normal if my kids didn't scope out the lamest thrill of the whole facility and insist on riding it!



As you can see, fun was had by all. It was such a fun place for the kids, and a great place for the adults to feel like big kids too! And don't forget about the great exercise! It's not easy climbing up those big, wobbly stairs...especially if you have a 3 year old in tote.

Word to the wise, unless you are actually going for the "crazy-hair" look in all of your pictures, wear a pony-tail!

Snowy Days, but a few miles away.

Have I mentioned how much I love the area we live? We get hot summers, cool winters, and are only 10 minutes away from the mountains. This year, Kingman didn't get any snow. I think maybe we got a small dusting of it in the middle of the night, but I am so not counting that. But only 10 minutes up the road from our home, the tempature drops about 20 degrees. Last Sunday after church, we decided to keep the girls awake by bundling up and using our $10 plastic snow sleds to play around with in the snow.

Needless to say, the girls were STOKED! They think snow is the coolest thing ever. They tried building a snowman, but the snow wouldn't pack at all. We couldn't even pack it enough to make a little snowball. Perfect snow for snow-angels though!

There was a lot of sledding....


A TON of eating....


And lots and lots of fun!
I am so glad we went.


And the best part? A short 10 minute drive home to our snow-free roads!

Children's Museum

*These next few posts are going to be a chronological mess. January has been crazy busy and just full of fun stuff. Sadly, posting about it has been put on the backburner. I will correct dates at a later time!*

Last Saturday, Corky and I had some things to do in Las Vegas. My mom planned on meeting us there to spend the day. We ran our errands and got somethings done, then we went straight to Lied Discovery Children Museum. We spent a good 3 hours there. Gracey and Emily had a blast!

I took so many pictures, and I am sure I could talk about every last one of them, but I will spare you. We had a great time though, and if I lived in Las Vegas I would definitely purchase an annual pass.














As you can see, fun was had by all!

Look Who's Dancing

This morning was Miss Emily's first day of dance class, EVER! She was so excited to finally be able to be old enough to do what Gracey loves so much. As you can see, it was all fun and excitement before we left for class.



Emily is in the class right before Gracey. As convenient it would be to have them be dancing together (less driving) I am so glad to have Emily doing something of her very own. Her and Gracey are only 2 years apart, and the older they get the less that age gap seems to matter. Emily follows Gracey around for everything, and as much as they both seem to love that, I think it will be great to also have some things that they do on their own.

This is what we will call the "Frankenstein" pose! The other move, Emily is holding her imaginary beach ball!

Round 2

Corky is currently baking another cake! Wish us all luck!

Do you remember the great cake disaster of 2009?

It looks promising that it will be better this time around. It's the frosting part that is always tricky though! Stay tuned...

*Update* It was so good. No pictures, we dug in too quickly! Just believe me.

Hiding place

This morning I woke up really feeling under the weather. I felt the beginnings of a nasty cold coming. I got the girls set up with breakfast, chugged some water, and went and got back in bed. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE having children at the age of independence?) Surprisingly, the girls didn't spend their whole morning watching cartoons, which they know how to turn on themselves. Gracey spent the morning drawing pictures and making her own envelopes for them and Emily was her shadow. Thankfully the fighting has been minimal.

Once I woke up again and feeling much better, the girls were still playing happily together. Their latest thing to keep them entertained was building a fort with their bunk beds. I did help them tuck the blankets under the top bunk, but it was all their idea. They started playing in this at about 11:00AM, took a half hour lunch break, and now at about 3:00PM they are still fully entertained. I have been able to put away Christmas decorations and relax.

Of course, the obligatory pictures....